A unique blog dedicated to covering the worlds of book publishing and the news media, revealing creative ideas, practical strategies, interesting stories, and provocative opinions. Along the way, discover savvy but entertaining insights on book marketing, public relations, branding, and advertising from a veteran of two decades in the industry of book publishing publicity and marketing.

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Thursday, December 17, 2015

Why No One Returns Your Call

I
can’t tell you how many times I listen to my office voice messages and have to
replay them several times just so I can properly take note of the phone number a caller is
leaving. Often I can’t catch their full
name or any other details. No, I don’t
need my hearing checked nor do I need a new voicemail system. People need to slow down and speak clearly
when leaving a message. Remember this
when you contact others to promote or market your book.

Some
people do the right thing. They leave a short message but speak in a clear
voice and state their information at the right pace. They present things in a logical order:

“I’m
so and so and I’m calling because of blah blah. Please call me at (state the
number and then repeat at) – and the best times to reach me are between blank
and blank (tell me what city or time zone you’re in).”

Anything
short of that is a waste of time and can be frustrating for the recipient of a
message who is left to translate as if learning Mandarin.

Cellphones
make it worse, because callers dial me from places with bad reception and noisy
backgrounds. I would say one out of
every 9 or 10 messages that I receive just gets deleted because it’s inaudible
or too frustrating to make out its details.

Think
about it. When you call the media or a
store or people you want to market your book to, they only want key information
– name, number, and reason for the call – and they don’t want you going on and
on without getting to the point. If you
leave a long message with the phone number garbled at the end, don’t expect a
call back!

When
calling someone, our first goal is to reach them and have a
conversation. But if you get their
voicemail, dial zero, and see if an operator can page them. If you get thrown back into voicemail, press
zero again and ask what time so and so is usually around. Call back then. If you still get voicemail, leave a message.

The
message has to give them an incentive to call back. What do you offer that they
will want? Whatever you present to them,
leave a clear message or you’ll be left wondering why no one calls you back!

About Me

Brian Feinblum, the creator and author of BookMarketingBuzzBlog, is the chief marketing officer for the nation's largest book promotions firm, Media Connect (www.Media-Connect.com), formerly Planned Television Arts, and has been involved in book publicity and marketing since 1989. He has served several book publishing companies as a publicist, book editor, and acquisitions editor. Brian, who earned a BA in English from Brooklyn College, became a published author in 1995 when he penned The Florida Homeowner, Condo and Co-Op Handbook. He resides in Westchester, New York with his wife, two young children, and an English Bulldog.